Question

All of the electrical outlets in Jonah's living room are on one parallel circuit. The circuit breaker cuts off the current if it exceeds 15A. Will the breaker trip if he uses a light (240 ohms) stereo (150 ohms), and an air conditioner (10 ohms)? Circuit voltage is 120 volts.

please give me an answer step-by-step.

this is science btw

Answer 1

By calculating the current for each device (light, stereo, and air conditioner) on the parallel circuit using Ohm's Law and summing them up, we find that the total current is 13.3A. Because this is less than the 15A limit of the circuit breaker, it will not trip.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine if the circuit breaker will trip when Jonah uses a light (240 ohms), stereo (150 ohms), and an air conditioner (10 ohms) on a parallel circuit with a voltage of 120 volts and a maximum current of 15A, we need to calculate the total current drawn by all three devices. In a parallel circuit, the total current (Itotal) is the sum of the currents through each device (I1, I2, I3).

First, we calculate the current drawn by each device using Ohm's Law (I = V/R):

For the light: Ilight = 120V / 240Ω

= 0.5A

For the stereo: Istereo = 120V / 150Ω

= 0.8A

For the air conditioner: IAC = 120V / 10Ω

= 12A

Next, we add the currents to find Itotal:

Itotal = Ilight + Istereo + IAC

= 0.5A + 0.8A + 12A

= 13.3A

The circuit breaker has a maximum current rating of 15A, and since the total current of 13.3A is less than this, it will not trip due to this current load.